26 July 2004
A poll of visitors and exhibitors at
the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo's
recent BusinessLIVE expo suggests that
employers on Merseyside are tackling
skill gaps head on by investing in
staff training and development.
Just over a year since the Government
published its white paper '21st
Century Skills Realising Our
Potential', research by Ambition:IT,
the no fee IT recruitment service, has
found that a growing number of
businesses in the region have taken
the Government's advice and are now
providing their staff with some form
of training.
Employer failure to invest
sufficiently in staff training has
previously been identified as a major
contributor to the widening gap in
skill levels among the UK's workforce.
It is also acknowledged that this
skills deficit poses a threat to the
wider economy - according to Ernst &
Young, industry losses through a lack
of basic skills are as high as £10
billion annually. (1)
Over 100 employees from organisations
of all sizes and across industry
sectors took part in the Ambition:IT
poll, which found that 78% of
respondents had received on-the-job
training over the past twelve months,
compared to just 17% who said that
they had never received any training
at all.
These figures are encouraging after
research from the Learning and Skills
Council (LSC) earlier this year found
that 40% of employers had provided no
training for staff over the previous
twelve months. (2)
Ian Cockayne, Training Co-ordinator
for
Ambition:IT, comments: "Since the
Government launched its Skills
Strategy lasted year, much has been
done to make staff training more
accessible and affordable -
particularly for the SME market - and
this is driving the up-take of
training on Merseyside.
"The LSC's SkillWorks initiative, for
instance, contributes 80 per cent
towards the training costs of
businesses with fewer than 250
employees. Its success, however, isn't
just down to funding.
"SkillWorks and Ambition:IT are
examples of a demand-led training and
employment strategy, which is designed
to be flexible and above all, to meet
the needs of employers. The fact that
these two initiatives actually put
employer requirements first is what's
really helping them take off in the
region."
(1) The Independent, 4th December 2003
(2) National Employers Skills Survey
2003
About Ambition:IT
Working together, Connect Internet
Solutions and Nacro Services deliver
Ambition:IT in the region, providing
Jobcentre Plus customers with the
technical and skills training required
to fill a variety of IT technical jobs
at entry level.
Once individuals have successfully
come through training, Connect’s
Employer Liaison Unit (ELU) matches
them with employers who have job
opportunities available.
